The Global Category Lead for Labs & Manufacturing Supplies, Â Filtration & Single Use Technology (SUT) is a strategic category leader responsible for executing CSLâs sourcing strategy across a regulated, operationally critical portfolio of approximately USD $90M in annual spend across ~1,000 suppliers. The role directly supports Laboratory and Manufacturing Raw Material requirements, including critical materials for quality testing, validation, and final product release, ensuring compliant, efficient, and scalable procurement strategies aligned with enterprise priorities and operational objectives.
The Global Category Lead develops category strategies and supplier governance frameworks to drive financial performance, simplify the portfolio, and strengthen supply continuity. The role ensures consistent use of approved suppliers, catalogs, and contracts, minimizing off-channel spend and maximizing network-wide sourcing leverage. By standardizing and simplifying buying processes, the role enhances supply reliability, mitigates operational and regulatory risk, and improves the procurement experience.
This role leads supplier consolidation and standardization initiatives to reduce complexity and validation burden for process-critical materials. In partnership with Supply Chain and Operations, the role optimizes Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) and replenishment models, balancing working capital efficiency with uninterrupted supply to maintain operational continuity across multiple sites.
The Sourcing Lead ensures sourcing strategies comply with GMP, regulatory, and technical requirements through close collaboration with Quality, Operations, Supply Chain, and R&D. The role also drives the ongoing alignment of the strategic roadmap with long-term enterprise objectives. In addition, the Associate Director builds team capability, provides mentorship, and develops future procurement leaders to sustain performance and resilience across the network.
RESPONSIBILITIES
1. Category Strategy & Governance
Define and execute category strategies for Labs & Manufacturing Supplies, Â Filtration & Single Use Technology (SUT) aligned to CSLâs operational, quality, and regulatory requirements and managing an annual spend of approximately USD 90M.
Establish and govern sourcing frameworks, standards, and commercial guardrails that enable compliant, scalable, and efficient procurement across the CSL network.
Maintain oversight of supplier segmentation, specification standardisation, and lifecycle management for process-critical materials.
2. Demand Channelling & Procurement Compliance
Own demand channeling to preferred buying routes and approved procurement channels, ensuring consistent utilisation of approved suppliers, catalogs, and contracts.
Govern supplier and contract adherence to reduce maverick spend, minimise local variability, and maximise network-wide spend leverage.
Drive consistent adoption of sourcing strategies across sites through clear governance, stakeholder engagement, and change management.
3. Supplier Consolidation & Risk Management
Lead supplier consolidation and standardisation initiatives to reduce portfolio complexity and minimise qualification and validation burden.
Strengthen supply assurance and continuity for materials critical to manufacturing, testing, validation, and final product release.
Proactively identify and mitigate supply, quality, and compliance risks in partnership with Quality and Operations.
4. Inventory & VMI Optimisation
Lead the optimisation of Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) and replenishment models in collaboration with Supply Chain and site Operations.
Balance working capital efficiency with service levels and uninterrupted supply, aligned to demand variability and material criticality.
5. Cross-Functional Partnership & Regulatory Alignment
Act as a strategic business partner to Quality, Operations, Supply Chain, and R&D.
Ensure sourcing strategies align with GMP-aligned sourcing practices, regulatory expectations, and audit readiness requirements.
Support change control, material qualification, and validation activities through disciplined supplier and specification management.
6. Performance, Value & Continuous Improvement
Deliver measurable outcomes across cost efficiency, spend leverage, supply reliability, and risk reduction.
Improve cycle times, process consistency, and user experience by simplifying procurement pathways and enabling ease of execution for the business.
Monitor category performance using defined KPIs and continuously refine sourcing approaches to support CSLâs operational performance and growth objectives.
Education Requirements
Bachelorâs degree in business, Supply Chain, or related discipline; MBA or advanced degree preferred.
Experience Requirements
Minimum 10+ yearsâ experience in strategic sourcing, category management, or procurement leadership roles, preferably within the pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical, or highly regulated manufacturing sectors.
Proven experience leading cross-functional teams and collaborating with Quality, Operations, Supply Chain, and R&D.
Demonstrated success in developing and executing category strategies that deliver measurable value, cost efficiency, and supply continuity across complex networks.
Experience in supplier consolidation, governance frameworks, and Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) optimization.
Track record of managing complex supplier relationships while maintaining compliance with regulatory requirements, including GMP-aligned sourcing practices.
Experience in change management, stakeholder engagement, and driving adoption of standardized procurement pathways across multiple sites
Competencies
Strategic Thinking: Ability to develop and implement long-term category strategies that balance cost, supply risk, and regulatory compliance while supporting CSLâs operational and growth objectives.
Leadership and Team Management: Provides effective leadership, coaching, and mentoring to Category Managers and cross-functional partners, fostering a collaborative, high-performance culture.
Supplier Relationship Management: Builds and maintains strategic, value-focused relationships with suppliers to enhance collaboration, drive innovation, and ensure supply continuity for critical materials.
Negotiation and Commercial Acumen: Applies expert negotiation and contracting skills to secure favourable terms, enforce compliance, and optimise network-wide spend leverage.
Process and Continuous Improvement: Identifies opportunities to streamline procurement pathways, standardise frameworks, optimise VMI, reduce complexity, and improve cycle time and user experience.
Regulatory & Quality Alignment: Ensures sourcing strategies and supplier practices comply with GMP requirements and support audit readiness, validation, and product release processes.
Influence without Direct Authority: Effectively drives adoption of category strategies, governance, and supplier standards across sites and functions through collaboration and stakeholder engagement.
Working Conditions
Ability to work across time zones and manage global stakeholder relationships
Travel Requirements (Domestic, International, frequency)
Domestic travel as required (maximum 30%)
International travel as required (maximum 20%)
CSL Behring is a global biotherapeutics leader driven by our promise to save lives. Focused on serving patientsâ needs by using the latest technologies, we discover, develop and deliver innovative therapies for people living with conditions in the immunology, hematology, cardiovascular and metabolic, respiratory, and transplant therapeutic areas. We use three strategic scientific platforms of plasma fractionation, recombinant protein technology, and cell and gene therapy to support continued innovation and continually refine ways in which products can address unmet medical needs and help patients lead full lives.
CSL Behring operates one of the worldâs largest plasma collection networks, CSL Plasma. Our parent company, CSL, headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, employs 32,000 people, and delivers its lifesaving therapies to people in more than 100 countries.
To learn more about CSL, CSL Behring, CSL Seqirus and CSL Vifor visit https://www.csl.com/ and CSL Plasma at https://www.cslplasma.com/.
Our Benefits
For more information on CSL benefits visit How CSL Supports Your Well-being | CSL.
You Belong at CSL
At CSL, Inclusion and Belonging is at the core of our mission and who we are. It fuels our innovation day in and day out. By celebrating our differences and creating a culture of curiosity and empathy, we are able to better understand and connect with our patients and donors, foster strong relationships with our stakeholders, and sustain a diverse workforce that will move our company and industry into the future.
 To learn more about inclusion and belonging visit https://www.csl.com/careers/inclusion-and-belonging
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